The Bargain
by LittleRedWritingHood70
Summary: To prevent the war, Gaea has proposed a deal. A royal marriage between the two sides, would be the perfect way to have a truce. Her conditions are for a princess from the gods' side and a prince from her's. Who is this princess? Thalia. How can she survive a marriage with Orion? Will love blossom in this winter of hatred?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey so I had a weird dream about this story so I told a friend of mine who convinced me to write it here and gave me some ideas I really do hope you enjoy this! :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and The Heroes of Olympus. All rights go to Rick Riordan.**

Chiron's tail swished nervously as he awaited the arrival of his divine visitor.

"You came." He called out when he saw her striding towards him in her infamous earthen robes. Gaea, Primordial of the Earth, smiled at him soothingly.

"But of course I did, a woman is only as good as her word and I always honour my promises, Chiron."

"Of course, my Lady." Chiron said, bowing. Gaea waved him to rise. "May I ask what is your proposal to stop the war?"

"What better way to unite our people than by marriage?" Gaea gave Chiron a wolfish grin. "How about a union between a princess from the gods' side, and a prince from my side?"

Chiron pondered over the idea for a minute with narrowed eyes. "You're asking me to force one of my pupils to marry?"

"Come now Chiron, that's the only option. Unless, one of the goddesses can take the place as a bride. But most of them are married, and I'm sure the virgin goddesses wouldn't like the idea of their freedom being taken away, now would they?"

Chiron felt helpless. What Gaea was saying _was_ true. "And _who_ would she marry? One of your ruthless Giants?" Chiron knew he was walking on thin ice, but the proposal could go very, _very_ wrong.

Instead, Gaea smirked with a certain glint in her lush green eyes. "Oh I think you'll find my son, Orion, quite charming. Dear Thalia Grace will be _very_ attracted to him."

Chiron's eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly. "Lady Artemis will not be pleased," he managed in a strained voice, "and neither will Lord Zeus. Can we not provide the prince, and you, a princess?"

" _No_. Do _not_ for one moment think there is room for more bargain. If it were not for _me_ , your precious demigods would already be _slaughtered_." Gaea said, with a dangerous edge to her voice, and a tone of finality.

Chiron had no choice but to quietly bow farewell, and agree to Gaea's term. Gaea smiled a poisonous smile, and vanished in a brilliant flash of white and gold.

Once she left, Chiron was left with the horrible task of figuring out to explain the situation to the gods, and more importantly, to the fierce lieutenant of Artemis/daughter of Zeus. At least, Chiron mused, having an unhappy marriage was better than a repeat of the horrible Giant War.

 **A.N: Sorry, but I have to say this. Chapters will not usually be so short. This was sort of like the prologue.**

 **And this story will hopefully be updated weekly.**

 **We we both would like to thank all those who decided to read our story.**

 **Please feel free to leave comments or PM's, and don't forget to Favourite!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

"No!" The goddess of the hunt and moon firmly stated.

"Lady Artem-"

"I said no! I will not allow my lieutenant to have an arranged _marriage_! My hunters are my nearest and dearest, why would I let _any one of them_ to be subject to such pain? Thalia may have joined under difficult circumstances, but she loves being one of them. How could I let her marry a _giant_ of all the vile men in this world?! Find yourself another princess! Hazel Levesque, perhaps?" Artemis finished her rant with cold, hard silver eyes and her mouth a thin line.

"This is the only way to prevent another war! Would you rather risk losing all your hunters?!" Chiron replied, no longer bothering to be polite with the enraged goddess. "I myself detest the idea, and deeply sympathize with Thalia as well, but the Earth Mother specifically asked for the demigod daughter of the king of the gods.'' He sighed, "And unfortunately, she is the only demigod daughter of Lord Zeus."

Artemis shut her eyes tightly, silver lined within, and thought for a moment. What Chiron said _was_ true, if there was a way to prevent history from repeating itself, why not take it? But, she did not want to sacrifice Thalia for it. "Fine,'' she choked out, "But one one condition. There will be an archery contest against Thalia. All those _princes_ may come. Whoever can beat her, may have her hand in _marriage_. But if no one can beat my lieutenant, she will be free of any marriage." She growled out, disgust and hatred evident on her beautiful features.

With her last words, she snapped her fingers and four of the most beautiful and regal-looking reindeers landed with her Moon Chariot in front of her on the soft grass of the secluded forest of Camp Half-Blood they were meeting in. And as her twin brother finished his ride of the Sun Chariot, Artemis climbed in and took off in the setting sun to complete her own round.

Artemis had no idea how to do it. Very rarely in her immortal life was she this wary of telling anyone something. This time, however, the usually serene goddess was both anxious and distressed to break the news to her beloved, younger half-sister. Artemis sighed. Thalia was currently visiting her dear friends and family of Camp Half-Blood. This was supposed to be a happy and stress-free week for, what with the Giant War and her brother and everything else. She decided to explain the situation to Thalia immediately, otherwise she would probably lose the nerve to do so.

Thalia Grace was laughing hard at what her best friend/little sister, Annabeth was telling her.

"-And then Jason and Percy both put their hands on that chair in the mess hall, giving each other death stares." Annabeth wheezed, and started laughing again. "It was so hilarious, both of them becoming their leader selves. And then _finally_ they seized the chair to me after awkward silence with the others standing around, and sat on either side of me." Annabeth started laughing harder, along with Thalia and Piper.

Jason and Percy sat there, not quite looking at any of them, and looking like tomatoes themselves with sheepish expressions. The four of them had wanted to spend some time with Thalia while she was at Camp, so that is why they were all sitting in a circle under her Pine Tree.

"You, my dear brother," Thalia started, pointing a finger at Jason, "are an Air Head. And you, my dear cousin, are a Kelp Head" She finished, her finger now pointed at Percy. If it were possible, both of them turned even redder. Thalia leaned forward and pinched Jason's cheek with her left hand, and Percy's cheek with her right hand, to which Percy retaliated by swatting her hand away. This just made everyone laugh even harder.

"Hey! Cut us some slack! It was just the start of our-" Percy abruptly got cut off with a bright flash appearing in front of them. Instinctively, all of them shielded their eyes.

When the light died down, the hesitantly opened their eyes and saw a girl about their age. She had luscious auburn hair coming down her left shoulder in a braid, her deep, beautiful silver eyes glowing with wisdom and sadness (the latter which troubled everyone). She wore jeans with a simple white t-shirt.

"-quest" finished Percy in a soft murmur. The five demigods scrambled up and bowed before Artemis, goddess of the Moon and Hunt.

"Rise." She said softly, motioning for the slightly shocked demigods to stand, and gave a small nod of acknowledgement to both Percy and Annabeth, and passed her eyes to Jason and Piper in greeting. Thalia felt a feeling of dread sweep over her, for Artemis came to see them in person, and Thalia was supposed to be on vacation for a week. This was no doubt concerning her.

Artemis' eyes finally zeroed in on Thalia, and that made her dread intensify. Artemis rarely used any other age form than her 12-year-old one, and that made her even more anxious. "May I borrow you for a minute, Thalia?" Artemis asked, albeit nervously (again, not something a divine being does).

"Uh, s-sure, Lady Artemis." Thalia stumbled out. The other four demigods shared bemused glances with each other. Both of them went little ways away from the Pine tree.

Artemis looked pained as she explained something to Thalia, while Thalia turned paler and paler by the second, a stunned expression on her face, her eyes wide. They wouldn't admit it, but the four of them were trying to catch Artemis and Thalia's conversation, but only caught snippets such as "war", "treaty", "princess" and "marriage", the last one making them even more alarmed.

As for Thalia, horror was written on her face throughout this all.

Now, Thalia looked red in the face with anger, a dangerous glint in her eyes, which had darkened like storm clouds. "NO... find someone else!...huntress..." Was what they heard from what Thalia was saying, rather yelling at an apologetic looking Artemis. "Thalia please... peace...competition... free..." Were the few words heard from what Artemis was saying.

A similar conversation went on between the two for a few minutes, the others watching in silent alarm and confusion. "FINE!" Thalia shouted in relent, still having expressions of horror, anger, sadness, betrayal and a few others. She looked like she wanted to murder someone, and so they leaned away a bit when Thalia stormed up to them and flopped down beside her tree after Artemis had left. She yelled in frustration, and slammed her fist into her pine tree. If you looked closely, you could see sparks running up and down all over the tree, which meant she was _pissed_.

After a few tense moments of silence, Annabeth asked hesitantly, "Um... Thals? You okay? What happened?"

"Oh yeah, just _peachy_! How could I not be when I learn that I'm potentially getting married?! She replied sarcastically and bitterly, shocking everyone.

 **A.N- IMPORTANT**

 **Hello again, just wanted to clarify something. The storyline is that everything happens as it originally did till The House of Hades, and after the Argo 2 rescues Annabeth and Percy from Tartarus, they suddenly get transported to CHB by the gods, and they explain that Gaea herself has asked to put the war on hold for reasons unknown, so everybody is in CHB for the time being, and currently being free of the impending doom, Thalia decides to visit CHB and everyone.**

 **For the sake of the story, just bear with that timeline.**

 **Thanks! Till' next time, and don't forget to review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N: Hey! So, I've been meaning to write a few friendship one shots, any ideas? Feel free to review or PM me the ideas if you have any! ;)**

It was as though a bomb had been dropped in their midst. Their brains stopped working, just blank. After taking almost forever to process what Thalia had just said, they gaped at her.

" _WHAT?!_ " Jason, Percy, Annabeth and Piper exclaimed after they processed Thalia's words. Thalia was still glaring into nothingness, but their expressions almost made her chuckle. Almost. "You heard me, I'm _potentially_ getting married." She firmly stated the word "potentially", as if just saying that would get her out of marriage.

"Start from the beginning." Annabeth was able to say in her baffled state. And so, Thalia explained her conversation with Artemis, and the dilemma she was in. The four of them listened in quite perplexity, never interrupting. "There is a preferred candidate for me - one of the princes - I don't even know why, but Artemis is making sure that he doesn't know anything about the competition, so there's no chance of him winning." She finished with a bit of hope in her otherwise sullen tone. All of them were silent for a moment, each going over the situation in their heads with their own calculations.

"So, who's the lucky man?" Piper managed in a strained voice. Thalia shot her a little glare, before replying, her voice dripping with hatred, "Orion". She obviously had some kind of personal vendetta against the boy shown by the way she spat his name. All of them had some idea about that, but didn't dare bring up _that_ matter. Meanwhile, Percy was having his own turmoil of emotions. "NO! Absolutely not! There's no way in a million years you will marry him of all the guys in the world! Even if you'll marry at all." Percy cried in a panicked tone.

"You seem to despise him." Annabeth noticed, but why wouldn't any of them hate the giants? But, Percy showed a particular hate for Orion. "I despise him," Percy started angrily, "because my bastard of a _brother_ is a horrible person." He finished, conveniently reminding everyone of how Orion _was_ Percy's brother, and making Thalia's dread grow heavier.

"You're going to win this competition, no matter what. No one's better at archery than you, plus you'll have Artemis' blessing to help you along the way." Jason, who had been awfully quite, encouraged his sister, giving her a smile. Thalia's heart flared up with affection and pride for her little brother, who had grown into such a sweet and smart young man. She gave him a small smile in return.

"But aren't there any other princesses besides you?" Piper asked Thalia. "Well, there's Hazel, but since I'm the daughter of Zeus, I'm preferred. Besides, Hazel is already in love with Frank, not to mention she's so _young_ , so what's the point in passing the burden on to her?"

Now it was Jason's turn to feel proud of his sister. His eyes shone with fierce pride and love, Thalia had always been the most selfless and protective person. Just as he was feeling that, they heard the _clop-clop_ of hooves, and turned to see Chiron cantering towards them. He came and placed a comforting and fatherly hand on Thalia's shoulder.

"I will tell both the camps of the marriage. It will be huge, including the Olympians and some guests from Gaea's side." He told them, his voice sorrowful.

"Only if I lose" Thalia fired back quickly, fiercely.

"Of course, child." Chiron said, his deep brown eyes filled with sympathy.

Thalia took a deep breath. She knew she had to defeat every royal man in order to retain her freedom. When she had returned to the hunt, all the other hunters had bombarded her with hugs and comfort. Their eyes had held fierce protectiveness and a promise of pain and suffering if anything upset Thalia. They had been informed by Artemis about the predicament, and though they could really do nothing about it, they made sure to watch out for her even if she left the hunt.

The archery competition was being held in a clearing deep in the forest of Camp Half-Blood so as not to have an unnecessary audience, but just close friends and family. Artemis had set up the shooting range by a snap of her fingers, and had given Thalia one last hug before retreating to the sidelines to be one of the judges, the other being an ambassador from Gaea. The good thing about the competition was that no powers were allowed, so no immortal cheating whatsoever.

Now, as she stood, trying to calm her nerves and waiting for her first opponent, she looked at the sidelines to see the whole hunt, Annabeth, Percy, Jason, Piper, Nico, Will, Chiron and a whole bunch of other close people to her watching her intently but encouragingly, and their eyes all spoke the same thing. _You can do it. We believe in you. Don't let this get to your head_.

For a second, a face flashed before her eyes. That familiar face with blonde hair, blue eyes and a mischievous yet endearing smile. Luke. She wondered what everything would have been like right now if he was here. Things would have been indeed _very_ different. But as soon as old memories threatened to flood her mind, choke her, she shoved that name and that face in a dark corner of her mind, where other memories also lay buried. Painful memories forced to be abandoned, but never truly forgotten. She couldn't open those gates right now, otherwise she might drown. She _had_ to keep them locked and buried, for the sake of her own sanity.

She came back to the real world just in time to see her first opponent stepping up near her, readying his bow. So, as she sent a small smile in return to her friends and family, she readied her own bow, and the competition started.

Thalia felt her confidence grow stronger as she beat her opponents. Royalty after royalty came, but she was able to defeat them all, her friends' calls of encouragement guiding her. At long last, her final opponent stepped up, and she gave him a feral grin, her blue eyes intense, before notching an arrow in her bow and firing.

After she beat him, her heart grew steady with happiness as she realised that no one else was left and she'd won. She wouldn't have to marry anyone! But, just as Artemis was about to confirm her victory, an arrow shot past her, a blur of wood and metal that she almost missed. It cut clean through one of Thalia's arrows' already on the target, thudding to a stop at the dead centre. More of them came whizzing out, each of them cleaving through Thalia's arrows in the middle.

Thalia's heart sank with dread just like the last arrow sank into the target, and everyone had alarm and shock written on their faces. Some even had their own weapons out, ready to pounce at the slightest indication of danger.

A clear and deep masculine voice rang out in the clearing, the speaker not visible, "I believe I've won my prize."

 **I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter! Please do review and tell me your thoughts, feelings and predictions.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Orion smirked at her, "You really are extremely pretty, I'm glad that it was you of all people that I got paired up with."He winked at Thalia and sauntered away, not at all affected by the dozens of glares directed towards his back. Thalia could only shut her eyes tight as Jason squeezed her hand reassuringly at Zeus' table when he was gone. That was when Chiron announced the wedding to everyone at camp. (linebreak)

Thalia was setting her things in her old alcove in the Zeus' cabin, throwing her brother out of there to find a new spot (which Jason grumbled about). She heard the door open and turned around to see the person who she at the moment despised the most standing there. "What are you doing here?" she asked, a dangerous edge to her voice. "Well, may I not spend some time with my fiancée in order to get to know her better?" Orion replied with that annoying smirk of his. "No you may not", Thalia grumbled. "Why not?" he asked. "Because I hate you! You killed Phoebe and gods know how many more hunters and Amazons!" "Aww, sweetheart I did those things out of duty, so my side would win! I truly am sorry about poor Phoebe, I didn't mean kill her, she just stood in my way." "Screw you!", she snarled. "I don't need to, I'll be having you eventually", he smirked. Right when he said this both Percy and Jason burst through the door with furious expressions. Percy pinned Orion to a wall "You won't lay a finger on her", he growled. Jason slung an arm around his pale sister, he was the only one able to touch her at the moment because he was immune to her sparking. "Gaea ordered for the wedding to be tomorrow", he handed her a bag, "I-I'm so sorry Lia", he managed. "It's fine little brother there's nothing you can do, I suppose I'll just try them on and rip Percy away from Orion".

"I know exactly what type of sicko you are, you raped that huntress!" Percy snapped. Orion shoved him away, I would never do that! That was just a lie made up to frame me", he raged. "If you touch her I'll kill you." "I won't touch a hair on her head if she doesn't want me to." "Believe me, she won't," Percy finished. The Grace sibling came storming in right that moment, Percy shot Orion one last glare and followed them out of the cabin.

Thalia sighed forlornly as Piper and Annabeth helped her get ready for her wedding. She was wearing a silky, white chiton and was expected to carry a bowl full of fruits and sugar down the isle, which was an ancient greek tradition for symbolizing a sweet life for women after marriage. Thalia honestly believed that her life was more bitter than sweet. The two other girls did their best to cheer her up, Piper gushed over how beautiful she looked and Annabeth talked about all the funny moments on the Argo 2. Annabeth finally tried to place a delicate headpiece made of lilies atop her head but Thalia stopped her and took out her own headpiece that her friend Katie Gardner made her. It consisted of delphiniums, beautiful, tiny, blue flowers, which suited her quite well. Annabeth smiled, "Should've known you'd rebel at least a little", and covered her face with a see-through veil. Right at that moment there was a knock on her door, Piper grumbled that it better not be Orion because it was bad luck to see his bride so early, but reached for the door anyway. Piper gasped in shock to see Zeus in his signature pinstriped suit and knelt before him quickly, Annabeth bowed down as well. After Zeus told them to rise he addressed his daughter, "It's good to see you again darling", a sad smile tugging at his lips. "You came", Thalia gasped in shock, "How could I not, who would have walked you done the isle? Come children the wedding is being held on Olympus", Zeus snapped his fingers and they were all transported to a beautiful garden with a path of pink and white flower petals down the isle. Every god, goddess and camper had attended, Annabeth was her only bridesmaid in her silvery dress and Jason was her best man, Percy, Grover, the hunters and her other friends were seated on the front row. Thalia took a deep breath, time to get this over with she thought full of determination as she clutched her father's arm.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Every glass of water was shaking from Percy's rage and storm clouds were gathering from Jason's, both Zeus and Posiedon were working on keeping the day normal with no strange occurances. Posiedon however was looking at Orion wistfully with sad eyes. Percy tried to lighten the mood with a joke, "Dang Grace, can't believe my girlfriend will be walking down the isle with you", he slung an arm around Annabeth playfully, as Jason blushed. Even Thalia quirked a smile at that. Jason then left to stand beside Orion, who Thalia hated to admit looked absolutely gorgeous in his black suit, his chocolate brown hair was windswept and his green eyes were shining with amusement. The nine muses began to start playing their music and Zeus took her arm to walk her to Orion. "You know", he started softly, I may not show it, but I really do love you, you've made me as proud as you ever could." "Thanks Dad", Thalia replied instinctively, surprising herself, because she only ever called him Father now. She was reminded of the times when she had called him Daddy as a child when he had visited her and Jason. A brilliant, genuine smile flashed across Zeus' usually stern face. He then handed her to Orion but he looked like he never wanted to let go. Orion just smiled at her as he took her hand, "You look gorgeous you know", he said, eyes flicking to her black hair, "pretty headpiece by the way it matches your eyes." "You'd better treat her well young man", Zeus growled. "Not to worry, I'll treat your daughter like a lady."

"Do you promise to love and look after her forevermore?" asked Hera, "I do'", Orion replied, never taking his eyes of off Thalia, who managed to stutter out a nearly incomprehensible "I-I do". "You may now kiss the bride", Hera announced. The wedding guests all seemed to collectively gasp, right at that moment. Orion smirked as he removed her veil, then he quickly grabbed her waist, pulling her towards him and smashing his lips against hers. Jason grimaced and looked away, shielding his eyes, Zeus looked like he was about to electrocute everyone in the room, and Artemis, the hunters and Annabeth all looked fierce enough to kill. Grover was nearly in tears and Tyson was bawling, while his big brother glared in the distance. Everyone except them clapped awkwardly, while Thalia fisted her hands in Orion's shirt and reluctantly let him kiss her. She shut her eyes tight and waited for him to finish, though she had to admit that he wasn't a half bad kisser. Orion pulled away from her (finally) and smiled, guess it's time to bid your farewells princess." Thalia tore away from his grasp and found herself locked in her brother's embrace. "Stay safe, and make sure to Iris message me everyday", she laughed and ruffled her brother's hair affectionately and promised to do so. "Looks like I'm gonna have to let you go again huh?" Grover asked shakily through his tears as he hugged her, "Well at least I'm not dying this time." Tyson sobbed and crushed her in a hug, making "Zeus girl" promise that she will visit. Annabeth then pulled her into a fierce hug and swore to IM all the time. Then there was Percy, "Take care Pinecone face, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am really going to miss you." "Take care of them Percy like you always do and I'm going to miss you too. Who would have thought that I would be the one marrying first huh?" Percy cracked a smile at that.

After saying her goodbyes to all her other camp friends, the hunters and Artemis, even Chiron, she reluctantly walked over to her new husband.

As expected Orion bombarded her with his usual snarky comments once they boarded their carriage. "You know, he started, "Gaea has stated that we must have at least one child." "At least she didn't say when, cause she's going to be waiting for a long time." Thalia snapped. "Oh right, since we're both immortal, I guess that means we have all of eternity together!" Orion gave her a wolfish grin. "Not me", she growled "I can still fall in battle." "Ah, no need to worry love, I'll be sure to protect you." Thalia rolled her eyes at that statement and stormed out of the carriage when it was finally at their temporary home, with them both being hunters, they were going to be moving around a lot, but this was the house that they'd always come back to. Thalia took a deep breath, this was going to be a long night.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Their house was in the most beautiful glade, and they had arrived just in time to see the beautiful sunset. It was so stunning, Thalia nearly applauded. The first thing she did when she reached their room was grab a pillow and throw it on a couch.

Thalia firmly explained to Orion that they would take turns using the bed and that today was her turn. To Thalia's surprise, Orion agreed to it without making a fuss and began to rummage through the fridge for something. Honestly, Thalia was just glad that he left her alone so she could have some time to get over the day's events.

Orion's Perspective

Orion felt relieved when he found the bottle of wine in the fridge. He did not drink often, really, he didn't. Unfortunately the last few days had been tiring and he believed that he deserved some sort of stress-reliever.

In fact, Orion figured that Thalia might need one too, was she old enough to drink? Oh who cared, if she was old enough to fight in a war, she was old enough to get drunk. Besides, they might as well have something to bond over, Zeus knows that they need some help with that!

Speaking of Thalia, he truly did not have a clue of what to think of her. Sure she was beautiful, but she was nowhere near being just another pretty face that he used to chase after. Thalia was fierce, blunt, and brave. Not to mention, by what he had heard from others, she seemed to be very honest and loyal.

Honesty and loyalty, those were two traits he deeply admired, he truly thought they could live a semi-bearable life if they could give that two each other. Orion found himself wandering around the house looking for her in a drunken daze.

He eventually found her sitting on the bed with her head between her knees and could not help but soften at her distress. Orion tapped her on the shoulder, she's got the most beautiful blue eyes he thought dizzily.

Orion knew someone else with beautiful blue eyes, another fierce, independent daughter of Zeus who loved to hunt. Now is not the time to moon over Artemis, he thought, she was the woman who taught him how heartless females could be.

Orion had had several centuries to get over Artemis anyway, Thalia stared at him with those gorgeous eyes, "You're drunk", she stated. All he could do was offer her some, for a few seconds her eyes suddenly turned a false shade of pink. Oh no, Aphrodite's up to her tricks again, or maybe it was mother, damn that cheeky woman, he thought bitterly. To Orion's shock Thalia took the bottle and downed the rest in only a few gulps. Thalia grabbed his collar and kissed him harshly, and he could have sworn that she murmured "Luke".


End file.
